Secrets
by Goldfield
Summary: Some secrets should never be revealed... And Chief Irons' secretary will discover that paying a high price...


**Secrets **

_This story was originally written as a present for my friend The Licker-Crow._

_Thanks to BloodCold for helping me translate __it to English ;)_

_And sorry for any mistakes._

**I**

Quickly. She had to walk quickly. If she wasn't thirsty, she would never stopped at that hallway to buy something to drink on the machine, but the situation was exactly the reverse. She lay down to put a coin in the slot, and soon heard the metallic thud of the soda can being pulled out. She took it without any delay and, starting to walk again, removed the aluminum seal. Putting her purse under her left arm and, with the can on the right hand, she left the hallway on the direction of the adjacent one, where it was located the S.T.A.R.S.'s office room door, the special police squad of Raccoon.

Michele couldn't complain about her job on the precint as a secretary for the police chief Brian Irons. Despite his constantly bad mood, maybe the only bad point about her job, the money was great, the environment almost entirely pleasant (despite the building looking like a museum, the people who worked there was, in great part, friendly) and her work time wasn't letting her, in no possible way, tired or stressed, as it used to happen in her last job. Well, everything was going perfectly…

And, of course, the job itself has its own advantages. Entering in the new hallway, the girl saw Albert Wesker, recently assigned as the S.T.A.R.S.'s Captain: a strong and handsome blond-haired man and incomparable seductive with his fashion, dark glasses. Michele's blood always became hot when she saw him, and the girl imagined how it was to be "caught" by a guy like that. Enjoying such thinking, she couldn't stop a little smile from appearing on her face.

- Good morning, Michele – greets the cop suddenly, entering on his team's room.

- Ah… - reply the secretary, completely out of herself – Hello!

She could not even believe! He noted her! He even greeted her! Drinkin a soda's sip, Michele begun to have loving fantasies about Wesker, she could even feel those wanted lips touching hers. Enlighted and happy, the young woman approached another door, turning the knob to arrive in another hallway, that ended on some stairs leading to the lower floor.

On that way, completely distracted, the RPD's employee arrived in the new ambient, and end up dashing accidently in one of the strange statues that Chief Irons kept there, with busts that looked like ancient warriors. The point is that the piece of art started moving some centimeters above the concrete floor with the impact, making a strange noise that reminded a mechanism's sound working or something like that. Scared, not only by the shock, but also by the fact that the Chief was capable of giving a beat on anyone who dared to touch on those statues.

Michele retreated quickly, following her own way, now more attempt, like nothing had happened.

However, as she advanced some steps on the narrow path, the secretary saw something that make her nerves freeze: Chief Irons coming up, thoughtful, by the stairs, on that same moment, scratching his mustaches. The young woman tried to hide her despair, because she already knew that her boss verified the statues position every time he came up to that part of the building. Could he discover that it was she who dashed in one of them?

- What's wrong, Michele? – asked Brian, walking by the girl – You look a little worried…

- Nothing, Chief! – she answered, drinking another soda's sip to disguise herself. – Have a good day!

Still thinking how strange was his secretary's reactions, Irons keep on going. At the same time, the young woman started going down the stairs leading to the first floor, hoping that the Chief haven't suspected of anything. But, when she was almost putting her feet on the floor of the dark room's hallway, she heard a soundly scream, like if a lion had escaped from the city's zoo and was ready to invade the R.P.D.:

- Michele!

Petrified, the secretary looked up, seeing the extremely angry face of her chief behind two cops, who were talking to each other eating some donnuts. Completely enraged, Brian leaned on the wooden handrail, and soon begun asking:

- By the way, it was you who dashed in one of the statues up here?

- But I…

- Don't lie to me! – said the Chief, wrinkling his forehead.

- Yes… it was me, Chief… – reveled Michele, looking to the floor – But it was an accident, I didn't have the intention and I swear that it won't happen again!

- That's really better, your clumsy, or you will finish up working as a waitress on "Emmy's", understood? I have stated clearly that nobody on this precint should touch those statues! One more act like this and you're out!

- I understood, don't worry…

Brian cleared the throat and, after seeing that the police officer responsible for the K-9 unity was looking at him with an awful expression on his face, he took back to the original way to his room, like he had never said such words to his secretary. This one, on the other hand, took her way too, but with wet eyes and the thought that she could not stand being treated that way by a so mysterious and rough man. If he wanted that nobody touch his "pieces of art", so he should have left those in his house, not in the R.P.D., god dammit!

Angry, Michele decided to take a shortcut to the reception using the Archive's Room. She had to forget that boring Irons and concentrate on her work, or she would go crazy!

_April 6th_

_I accidentally moved one of the stone statues on the second floor when I leaned against it. When the chief found out about it, he was furious. I swear the guy nearly bit my head off, screaming at me never to touch the statue again. If it's so important, then maybe he shouldn't have put it out in the open like that..._

**II**

On the next day, Michele was calmly working on her room, located on the precint's second floor. She was finishing writing the text of a document using the typewriter (even with the employees' appeals, Chief Irons had put computers only in a few sectors of the R.P.D.), when the door that led to the main hall was opened, and three officers came up, talking amongst themselves.

The first one was Marvin Branagh, always smiling and funny, but in that moment he had a more serious face than normal. The second officer was David Ford, strong and intelligent, hands on his pockets and hearing more than speaking. The last was Brad Vickers, S.T.A.R.S.'s Alpha Team pilot, nicknamed by his colleagues as "Chickenheart", due to his cowardly nature; The trio approached Michele's desk, and she could hear clearly a part of their talk:

- The Chief has so much money that he could put some of it into his ass! – said Marvin with a vulgar expression. – The monthly value of his checks doesn't really approach closely to the real amount that he receives at every thirty days!

- I don't agree with you, Branagh – protested Brad. – I'm sure that Chief Irons is an honest person.

- Hey, what the hell, Vickers? – laughed David. – You must be joking, right ya? Even my grandma knows that the guy is corrupt! Just take a look at the expensive and rare pieces of art that he is lately putting on the precint. Some of them must have cost millions!

- Someone has been giving Irons money for a long time… – said Branagh. – The problem is, nobody knows who...

The three policemen left the room by the door that led to Brian's office room. Still working on the typewriter, Michele felt that those men's words had messed up with her mind. How could she never realize that before? The police chief was probably included in someone's paycheck list, and that person had interest in letting R.P.D. under control. The question, however, was exactly the same brought up by Marvin: who?

_April 7th _

_I heard that all the art pieces__ of the chief's collection are rare items, literally worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. I don't know which is the bigger mystery: where he finds those tacky things, or where he's getting the money to pay for them._

**III**

Michele was in a hurry, like all the times she walked on those hallways of the R.P.D., always with some work to do. She didn't had time to talk with nobody and even less to appreciate the art pieces that Chief Irons prized as the most beautiful in the world. The truth was that the building was each time looking more an art antiquary than a police precint, and this was really bothering the secretary.

And, thinking about the Chief, there was him, walking by the instruction room hallway with a great painting in his hands, covered by a red fabric, which was big enough to block the way. Michele noticed that Brian was smiling like a children with a new toy. Giving enough space for her to walk through, she asked, curious:

- Chief, what is this?

- Oh, this? – answered him with another question, without loosing his smile and having an unusual good mood. – This is the newest masterpiece that I bought. It's called: "Prometheus Chained". Would you like to see it?

- I don't know…

Even with the lack of interest of the young woman on that thing that Irons called "masterpiece", the Chief removed the reddish protection, revealing the painting scene. Just as her eyes found the image, Michele felt dizzy and though that she could thrown up all her lunch out: the scene was of a nude man, with wounds all over his body and a feared expression in his face, chained on a rock with a dark sky on the horizon. The worst part was an eagle devouring the entrains of the poor prisoner, launching blood fall over the rocks.

For the functionary's luck, Brian, that by the other hand was demonstrating great pleasure to show that horrible painting, soon covered the frame again with the fabric and, in a cynic and irritating tone, asked:

- Did you liked it?

Michele could not answer due to her nausea. Only moved her head in a positive signal making the Chief get back to the reception. When she was trying to erase that image of her thoughts, the young woman was also trying to understand why a person could see something beautiful in such a painting. It was really macabre.

The officer Kevin Ryman, who was coming by the hallway on the same moment, noted the pale expression of the secretary and immediately asked, worried:

- Michele, are you all right? Looks like you saw a monster!

- Not really, I'm working for one – she affirmed her in a mutter, walking away nervous and still a little stunned.

_May 10th _

_I wasn't surprised to see the chief to come in today with yet another large picture frame in his hands. This time it was really disturbing painting depicting a nude person being hanged. I was appalled by the expression on the chief's face as he leered at that painting. _

_Why anyone would consider something like that to be a work of art is beyond my comprehension..._

**IV**

At least one thing Michelle had to recognize: she hated to stay on Chief Iron's office. All those stuffed animals scared her. She felt almost like if they were looking at her, like they could come back to live at any moment and attack her. Unfortunately, one time per week she had to enter that place to clean it up, a work a bit strange for a secretary.

Cleaning up the dust from the furniture with extreme caution to not take anything out of its place, the girl started to stare the unmovable creatures. A raccoon, an elk's head on the wall… and finally, putting her eyes on the table, she noticed a "Raccoon Times" newspaper edition on it, with a very sensationalist headline on the first page:

"_MONSTERS ON THE ARKLAY MOUNTAINS?"_

The recent murders on the city surroundings with traces of cannibalism really made the population fearful, and, since the last week, the R.P.D.'s officers were working without rest. Worse than that, the Chief was very irritated lately, probably because of all those crimes and, even with his men doing the best they could to find a solution, he still showed an endless dissatisfaction.

In that moment, the office's door opened, and Brian approached Michele, angry like always. By the same time, however, like Michelle noted, he was a lot more nervous than previous times, closed fists and teeth near a nervous attack. The secretary stopped the cleanup immediately to ask him, feeling afraid and full of worry:

- Chief? Are you all right?

Irons remained silently. Only went to his desk and, after staying some moments still in front of it, looking at the wall, gave a sudden punch on the table, causing a high noise and making Michelle scream. Trembling, she concluded the horrible truth: probably she could not escape that room without being physically attacked.

- Chief, you've got to calm down ! – she exclaimed, retreating discretely to the wall.

- Bastards… – snarled Brian, punching again the table, now more slowly – Those bastards!

- Chief…

- You don't know anything! – shouted the psychotic man, advancing over the secretary with eyes wide open, making her remember of a insane person's face. – Get out of here!

- Yes, sir…

More than quickly, Michelle crossed the door leading to the hallway, trying to not cry at all costs. Nobody could work on that kind of conditions! The poor young woman was reaching the point of not being able to stand Iron's temperament anymore, and if the situation not improved, she would look for another job without think twice. It was better to have a low wage than spend money with a psychologist due to the horror that the Chief use to inflict on her.

_June 8th_

_As I was straightening up the chief's room, he burst through the door with a furious look at his face. It's only been 2 months since I've started working here, but that's the second time I've seen him like this. _

_The last time was when I bumped into that statue, only this time he looked even more agitated than ever. I seriously thought for a moment that he was going to hurt me._

**V**

Between all the gewgaws on Chief Irons' room, of course the one most intriguing for Michelle was located behind his desk chair. It was a stone panel hidden behind a painting. The secretary discovered it by accident, when she pushed the painting with her shoulder during one of those cleaning days, making it slide over the wall and then revealing the secret. Brian could even strangle her if he discovered about that.

The uncovered panel contained some symbols that probably were Aztec and, the most curious thing about them where three square holes where could be inserted some ceramic pieces with the size of a human hand, each one with a different symbol. Every time she looked at the panel, the secretary saw that two of these holes where filled with pieces, on the colors blue and yellow, and the last one was empty. Intrigued, Michelle always asked herself what could be that thing's meaning, when on a certain day, when cleaning the office, she saw something on the desk that called her attention …

It was a ceramic piece of the same size of the others, red-colored. The young woman suddenly solved the puzzle: it was the key needed to complete the panel. Irons forgot it there, probably due to a memory lapse, and now it was right in front of Michelle. She finally had the chance to discover Chief's great mystery…

The secretary walked to the desk with the objective of taking the piece, but suddenly stopped, thinking about the horrible consequences that this act could be followed by. The Chief could eat her alive if he discovered about it. However, on that morning, he had traveled on business to a small city nearby, and wouldn't be back at the R.P.D. until that night. Considering that only she and the Chief normally entered in that office, no one would ever suspect of anything.

More calmly, Michele ended up taking the reddish piece, putting it on the panel's hole soon after taking out the picture that covered it. She became frightened when part of the wall moved horizontally, showing an access to a secret passage which should not, in any manner, be there. The secretary felt her heart beating fast. Irons was really a man full of enigmas.

On the small and dark rectangular room there was only an elevator that looked like taken directly from an old horror movie, with a rust metal door. The elevator led to the building's basement. Revolted by the fact that Brian hid that thing for such a long time, the young woman entered the transport breathing heavily due to her great anxiety. What would she find down there?

The way down was relatively short, but for Michele looked like it took an entire century. As the elevator opened, the secretary entered a hallway with stone walls, enlightened by torches. She was frightened by the strange looking of that place, but continued to walk. If she has could reach that point, now she had to keep going until the end. On each curve of the path, Michele feared find Iron's face, or even someone more dangerous, until she discovered a wooden door.

Conquering her fears, the secretary opened it slowly. After the sound of a creak, she found a room as dark as the previous hallway. But the details on this one made it, with no doubt, a lot more scaring.

On some shelves she could see flasks with substances like ether and formaldehyde… All those skulls… Human skulls, white and well conserved, positioned like trophies. In the center there were a large wood table, scratched and dirty, red spots. On it there was a big handsaw, blade marked with blood. It was the operation table of a mad and cruel man, where he used to do his most vile atrocities.

Completely horrified by the vision of that macabre scenario, Michelle got back to the door and run out to the elevator's direction. All she wanted in that moment was to escape, leave behind that demoniac place. The Chief was not only corrupt, but also a crazy murderer. And that room would never leave the young woman's mind, no matter how many years gone by.

Breathing with some difficulty, the secretary entered the elevator and strongly pressed the button to go up to the second floor. Soon after, still shaken up, she sit down on the floor and started crying desperately.

_June 15th_

_I discovered what the chief has been hiding all along... If he finds out that I know, my life will be in serious danger. It's getting late already. I'm just going to have to take this one day at a time..._

**VI**

On the next morning, Michelle followed without hesitation to her room, stopping for nothing, including talking to someone. She could not let anyone suspect of anything due to her nervousness, that she was trying so hard to hide. Her willing was to climb up the statue in the main hall and scream to everyone the police chief was a psychopath, a person completely unable to have his status, but she couldn't. Her life was in danger.

Sitting down behind her desk, the secretary asked herself how she would be capable of keeping her attention on the work, with the image of those skulls and the bloody handsaw tormenting her mind. Taking out her old diary from the top of a pile of papers that she would have to read, a little note fell on the floor, being taken by the young woman soon after. Her body became completely frozen when she read what was written on it:

"_I Know"_

Michelle's heart beat faster as she got up from the chair with the same feeling that she had when escaping from Iron's "atelier" the previous day. He knew. He knew it, and he was going to kill her as soon as he had the chance. Trying to escape her destiny, the R.P.D. worker left the room running towards the hall. In the reception two cops were talking, making some tumult, but she doesn't even notice it. Only kept going in the direction of the precint's door, her feet in pain due to the high-heels. She had to run. She had to escape.

Her car was parked in front of the book store near the building's main entrance. She had to leave Raccoon as quickly as possible. Without delay, she entered the car, and some minutes later was driving by the main street, heading to the exit that would ultimate lead her to the highway. Turned on the radio, trying to relax, but it was useless. Her desperation refused to leave her. And her thoughts were focusing escape from Irons and all that madness that could badly be concentrated in only one person.

Turning in a corner, she entered a slope…

The street ended up exactly in one of the city exits. Michelle was coming closer, just a few more yards down and she could head to the highway…

But when she tried to brake the car, noted that the vehicle hasn't answered. The brakes were out, and she had no way to stop it. Frustrated, she understood how she was stupid in running out scared like that, forgetting how Brian, foreseeing the secretary's reaction, could have sabotaged the car, as in fact he did. Just about to collide with the wall, the young woman had a tear falling by her face, thinking about herself and all the people who, unknowing the real personality of their Chief, could have the same destiny as her…

The collision was violent, making Michelle's head hit strongly the broken and almost completely bloody-red-colored glass… Dead.

_Written by: Luiz Fabrício de Oliveira Mendes – "Goldfield"_

_Translated by: BloodCold._


End file.
